Multiple pile height tufting machine



Oct. 29, 1963 Filed Oct M. M. BEASLEY MULTIPLE FILE HEIGHT TUFTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 li I k Oct. 29, 1963 v M. M. BEASLEY I 3,1

MULTIPLE PILE' HEIGHT TUFTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 3, 1960 V 3 Sheds-Sheet? United States Patent 9 3,108,553 MULTIPLE FEE HEIGHT TUFTENG MACHl'l E Max M. Beasley, hattanooga, Tenn, assignor to Singer- Cobhle, lino, Chattanooga, Tenn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Get. 3, teen, Ser. No. 69,199 3 Claims. (CL 1112-49) This invention relates to a tufting machine for selectively forming multiple pile heights in a tufted fabric, and more particularly to a tufting machine provided with means for selectively controlling the depth of penetration of the needle for forming multiple pile heights.

One object of this invention is to provide a tufting machine for selectively forming pile heights in a tufted fabric without robbing or backdrawing yarn from previously formed loops.

Another object of this invention is to provide a multiple needle tufting machine provided with a pattern control mechanism for selectively positioning the needles to penetrate the base fabric to various depths in order to form corresponding pile heights in the tufted fabric.

A further object of this invention is to provide a looper mechanism of novel structure to cooperate with a needle penetrating a base fabric to different depths.

Another object of this invention is to provide a needle tufting machine for forming an infinite variety of patterns of high cut pile and low loop pile in a tufted fabric.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel pattern controlled latching means for controlling the axial position of each needle relative to a common reciprocable needle carrier.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 discloses a typical cross section of a multiple needle tufting machine incorporating the invention with a needle penetrating the fabric to its shallow position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevation operational view showing the needle carrier in its lowermost position and the needle in its deep position to form high cut pile;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 with the needle carrier in its uppermost position;

FIG. 5 is a section taken along the line 55 of FIG. 4;

PEG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 2 with the needle in shallow position to form low loop pile;

FIG. 7 is a section taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

PEG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 6 with the needle carrier in its uppermost position; and

FIG. 9 is a section taken along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, FIG. 1 discloses a cross section of a conventional multiple needle tufting machine having a frame or housing 10 supporting a main drive shaft 11 upon which are mounted a plurality of eccentrics 12 adapted to reciprocate the push rods 13 through bearings or housings 14 upon rotation of the the drive shaft 11. The push rods 13 support a needle bar carrier 15 mounted transversely of the machine.

Equally spaced in transverse alignment along the needle carrier 15 are a plurality of vertical guideways 17 extending from top to bottom through the carrier. Slidably received for axial movement in each guideway 17 is a needle bar 18. In order to retain each needle bar 18 within the carrier 15 and to permit limited reciprocation of the needle bar 18 within the guideway 17, a keyway or slot 2% is formed in one side of the needle bar 18. A stationary key or dog 21 is held in the carrier 15 and extends from the wall of the guideway 17 into the keyway 2%). The difference between the depth of the key- "ice way 20 and the key 21 is equal to the length of relative movement of the needle bar 18 within its guideway 17, and as will be shown later, is equal to the depth range of needle penetration through the base fabric 23.

In order to lock the needle bar 18 in its extended position relative to the needle carrier 15 to permit the deepest penetration of the base fabric 23 by the needle 19, as disclosed in FIGS. 2-5, a hole or guideway 25 is formed through the carrier 15 to intersect the needle bar guideway 17. Adapted to reciprocate within the hole 25 is a latch pin 26. The pin 26 is held in extended latched position, that is, extending through the guideway 17 above the top or blunt end of the needle bar 18, by means of a spring 27, as best disclosed in FIGS. 2 and 4. The dimensions of the needle bar 18 are such that when the needle bar is latched in extended position, it will be securely locked against axial movement by the latch pin 26 above the needle bar 18 and the key 21 abutting against the upper surface of the keyway 20.

As best disclosed in FIGS. 6 and 8, the rear end of the latch pin 26 is pivotally connected at 2 to a connecting rod 28. When the rod 28 is pulled toward the rear of the machine (toward the right of the drawing) to overcome the spring 27, the latch pin 26 will be withdrawn from the guideway 17 to permit the free axial movement of the needle bar 18 within the guideway 17 to the limits permitted by the engagement of the key 21 within the keyway 20.

In order to control the movements of each latch pin 26, the connecting rod 23 is pivotally linked to the armature 3d of a solenoid 31. Each solenoid 31 is controlled through an electrical circuit including a lead 32, a switch 33, and a ground lead 34. The switch 33 is closed and opened by means of a finger 35 which is adapted to be pivoted by engagement or disengagement with grooves 3? in the pattern sheet 36 mounted on a pattern drum 37 which is continuously rotated on the shaft 38 by means such as a motor, not shown, in a manner well known to the art.

The base fabric 23 is supported beneath and for penetration by the needles 19 by means of a conventional needle plate 40 supported on the bed plate 41. A conventional presser foot 42 is employed to hold the base fabric 23 down upon the needle plate 40. The base fabric 23 is fed in the direction of the arrows by conventional fabric feed rolls 43, 44, 45 and 46.

A loop hook of novel construction is mounted in a hook bar 51 to reciprocate in a conventional manner on a hook shaft 52 in order that the hook 50 may cooperate with the needle 19 to form loop pile of selectively different heights. The loop hook 50 is provided with an upper bill 53 and a lower bill '54 vertically spaced from each other a sufiicient distance that only the upper bill 53 will cross the needle 19 to engage and hold a loop of yarn 56 when the needle 19 penetrates to its shallowest depth, as disclosed in FIG. 6. Although both bills 53 and 54 may cross the needle 19 at its deepest penetration (FIG. 2) to engage the yarn 56, only the lower bill 54 will hold the end of the loop to form pile of the greater depth.

Since both the upper bill 53 and the lower bill 54 point in a direction opposite to the direction of fabric feed, means must be provided to remove the loops from the bills as the fabric 23 carries the loops toward the rear of the machine. In a preferred form of this invention, a conventional tufting knife 57 is carried in a knife holder 53, which is mounted on a knife shaft 59 adapted to reciprocate in a conventional manner to cooperate with the lower bill 54 to form cut pile upon the rearward reciprocation of the loop hook 50, as best disclosed in FIG. 4.

in order to remove the loops formed on the bill to form low or short uncut loops, a loop stripping finger 60 is fixedly attached to a rear portion of the bed plate 41 and extends forward along and adjacent the loop hook bill 53. The extremity 61 of the loop stripping finger 68 extends laterally beneath the bill 53 and then upward along the opposite side of the bill 53 in order to effectively engage the loop formed on the bill 53 and remove the loop from the free end of the bill 53, as best disclosed in FIGS. 8 and 9.

The yarn 56 may be fed to each needle by any convenient means such as the fixed yarn guides 63, 64 and 65 and the yarn jerker 66 mounted on the needle carrier 15 to reciprocate therewith in a conventional manner. Al though the needle 19 may supply its own yarn demand by merely pulling the yarn 56 through the yarn guides from a creel, not shown, regardless of the depth of penetration of the needle 19, a controlled yarn feed means may be provided for supplying the selectively different increments of yarn required for each depth of penetration and synchronously operated from the pattern control drum 37.

The operation of the invention is as follows:

A preferred method of operating the machine is to synchronously drive from a single motor the main shaft 11, the pattern drum shaft 38, the fabric feed roll 44, the hook shaft 52 and the knife shaft 59. When the main shaft 11 is continuously rotated to reciprocate the needle carrier 15 above the continuously fed base fabric 23, each needle bar 18 will be locked in its extended position when the pivoted finger 35 rides over the smooth surface of the pattern sheet 36 to open the switch 33 and thereby deactivate the' solenoid 31. With the needle bar 18 in this locked position and with the carrier 15 in its lowermost position, as disclosed in FIG. 2, the needle 19 will penetrate through the fabric 23 to its deepest position, and the loop hook 50 will be reciprocated forward so that the lower bill 54 will cross the needle 19 to engage and hold a long loop 70. After the carrier 15 reciprocates upward, the loop hook 50 will reciprocate toward the rear with the bill 54 carrying the long loop 70 toward cutting engagement with the cooperating knife 57 to form high cut pile 71.

When the pivoted finger 35 engages a groove 39 on the rotating pattern sheet 36, the switch 33 will close to actuate the solenoid 31 and pull the connecting rod 28 toward the rear to overcome the spring 27 and withdraw the latch pin 26 from the needle bar guideway 17. With the needle bar 18 unlatched and the needle carrier 15 reciprocating downward, as best disclosed in FIG. 6, both the inertia of the needle bar 18 and the needle 19 and the resistance of the base fabric 23 to needle penetration will cause the needle bar 18 to withdraw upward into the needle carrier 15. Thus, when the needle carrier 15 has reached its lowermost position, the withdrawn needle 19 will have penetrated through the base fabric 23 to its shallow position, as disclosed in FIG. 6. The loop hook 50 will then be reciprocated forward in the usual manner across the path of the needle 19 in its shallow position. However, in the shallow needle position, only the hook bill 53 will cross the needle 19 to engage the yarn 56 and form a short loop 72. With the needle bar 18 still unlatched, and the needle carrier 15 reciprocated to its upward position, the needle 19 is withdrawn from the base fabric 23 and the needle bar 18 will descend by gravity to hang in its extended position relative to the needle carrier 15 to permit the latch pin 26 to slide into its locked position if the solenoid becomes deactuated on that particular stroke. After the carrier 15 has risen to its position disclosed in FIG. 8, the loop hook 50 will be reciprocated toward the rear with the bill 53 carrying the loop 72 toward the extremity 61 of the loop stripping finger 60. Continued rearward movement of the bill 53 causes the loop stripping finger 60 to move the low loop 72 from the free end of the bill 53 until it is finally free of the hook and is carried beyond the hook by the movement of the fabric 23.

It will be understood that in multiple needle machine, each needle is operated independently of any other needle in accordance with the design on the pattern sheet 36 and that an infinite variety of designs of high cut pile and low loop pile can be formed in a tufted fabric made in accordance with this machine.

It is also within the scope of this invention to provide a hook having more than two bills spaced vertically on a loop hook and with additional means for latching each needle in a corresponding number of different vertical positions relative to the needle carrier 15.

It is also within the scope of this invention to provide means for cutting or stripping loops from any or all of the hook bills.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that van. ous changes may be made in the invention, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A tufting machine for sewing pile yarn at selectively different heights in a base fabric comprising, a needle plate for supporting said base fabric, a needle having a longi tudinal axis, a blunt end and a pointed end, means for feeding yarn to said needle, a needle carrier having a guideway therein for axially and slidably receiving said needle, a keyway formed along the longitudinal surface of said needle, a key in said needle carrier extending into said guideway to engage said keyway, said keyway being longer than said key by an amount equal to the limit of axial movement of said needle between a first position and a second position relative to said guideway, a locking pin, means for slidably carrying said locking pin in said needle carrier for movement across the blunt end of said needle in said first position, said key being adapted to engage the end of said keyway toward said blunt end to lock said needle in said first position, means for actuating said locking pin selectively to move across said blunt end and to withdraw said locking pin completely from said guideway to disengage said needle, said key being adapted to engage the end of said keyway remote from said blunt end in said second position, means for reciprocating said needle carrier toward and away from said needle plate to reciprocate said pointed end through said base fabric in said first or second position, and looper means for receiving yarn carried by said needle through said base fabric in either said first or second position to form loop pile of two different heights.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said means for actuating said locking pin comprises spring means for biasing said locking pin across said blunt end, a solenoid for withdrawing said locking pin from said guideway against said spring means, and pattern control means for energizing said solenoid.

3. The invention according to claim 1 further providing means for feeding said base fabric across said needle plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,984,330 Boyce Dec. 11, 1934 2,097,380 Morgan Oct. 26, 1937 2,365,013 Sharkey et al Dec. 12, 1944 2,836,134 Harrison May 27, 1958 2,850,994 Crawford Sept. 9, 1958 2,860,588 Penman Nov. 18, 1958 2,879,728 McCutchen Mar. 31, 1959 2,882,845 Hoeselbarth Apr. 21, 1959 2,961,982 Wear Nov. 29, 1960 2,990,792 Nowicki et a1. July 4, 1961 3,016,029 Card Jan. 9, 1962 3,019,748 Card Feb. 6,, 1962 

1. A TUFTING MACHINE FOR SEWING PILE YARN AT SELECTIVELY DIFFERENT HEIGHTS IN A BASE FABRIC COMPRISING, A NEEDLE PLATE FOR SUPPORTING SAID BASE FABRIC, A NEEDLE HAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS, A BLUNT END AND A POINTED END, MEANS FOR FEEDING YARN TO SAID NEEDLE, A NEEDLE CARRIER HAVING A GUIDEWAY THEREIN FOR AXIALLY AND SLIDABLY RECEIVING SAID NEEDLE, A KEYWAY FORMED ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL SURFACE OF SAID NEEDLE, A KEY IN SAID NEEDLE CARRIER EXTENDING INTO SAID GUIDEWAY TO ENGAGE SAID KEYWAY, SAID KEYWAY BEING LONGER THAN SAID KEY BY AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE LIMIT OF AXIAL MOVEMENT OF SAID NEEDLE BETWEEN A FIRST POSITION AND A SECOND POSITION RELATIVE TO SAID GUIDEWAY, A LOCKING PIN, MEANS FOR SLIDABLY CARRYING SAID LOCKING PIN IN SAID NEDDLE CARRIER FOR MOVEMENT ACROSS THE BLUNT END OF SAID NEEDLE IN SAID FIRST POSITION, SAID KEY BEING ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE END OF SAID KEYWAY TOWARD SAID BLUNT END TO LOCK SAID NEEDLE IN SAID FIRST POSITION, MEANS FOR ACTUATING SAID LOCKING PIN SELECTIVELY TO MOVE ACROSS SAID BLUNT END AND TO WITHDRAW SAID LOCKING PIN COMPLETELY FROM 